It's been a relatively quiet week in India. I wrote my final exams, taught an hour long course and am now a yoga teacher. I celebrated by buying a 2 dollar teal shirt at the Big Bazaar and chocolate fudge-type cookies for my "family".
Before leaving the yoga center I was able to check out the neighboring "farm". I can't lie and say that it wasn't depressing. I found it sad to see a flock of ducks grazing garbage bags with no water for them to bathe in. I can say that the owners do really seem to love their animals. Here under the guava tree I was able to squeeze a little goat.
I was also fortunate enough to see laundry hung neatly at a traffic circle. I also learned that when women have their periods here they are only allowed to stay in one room and are not allowed to socialize. Interesting. They also do not have tampons here and the girls got a real kick out of seeing them. I never knew tampons were so interesting, the things I take for granted.
I was able to hang with beautiful Manju, who taught me how to cook one day! It was so nice having girl time. I saw her wedding saree and her wedding video, her jewelry and met her mother in-law. Customary for mother in-laws to live with one of her sons. It was pretty surreal to be chatting away with Manju and being offered juice and tea and virtually ignoring the poor lady. Manju and the mother in- law both seemed shocked when I offered to get her a drink and offered her some snacks.
Manju and I had a wonderful day cooking, mostly I watched and then ate. I find it interesting that Indian women do not use cutting boards, they cut everything by hand with this little finger protector so as to not lose a finger.
I also love Manju's spice rack.
This was our lunch that Manju whipped up in no time and the smells were pretty unreal!
The girls also took me to a palace which was pretty cool. It was a shame though because everything is just displayed, I touched weapons, furniture, bowls that were all relics. It was a far cry from Canadian museums where there is special temperatures, lights and guards to preserve the integrity of these fantastic old pieces. I thought of my friend Katie all day and wondered what she would think.
That being said us girls clowned around and had some fun. We made jokes about the "boob boards" which were like small oars with wooden breasts attached. These boob boards were a replicate of your breasts and you offered them to the Gods for bigger or smaller, or whatever your boob affliction may have been! I guess I'll have to get my boob board built when I get home and finally see about those C cups!
I played with the traditional dancers and made the girls join in.
I was also very honored to be invited to my friend Vishnu's house to meet his family. It was a two bedroom house with a wood stove and a huge woodshop out back. Vishnu's father is a carpenter. I have never seen more beautiful furniture in my life. Each piece hand carved with intricate designs and they all match. They were breathtaking. I was so humbled to meet his beautiful mom Oosha and she made us a fantastic supper and treated me like family! She gave me some of her bracelets and put a bindhi on my third eye (between the eyebrows is a chakra called ajna). I loved being at their house and being part of the family! I only wished that Oosha could have sat with me but because of her period she had to stay in the other room.
I've also collected my yoga stuff to send home and spent the evening sewing them into cloth bags! Yup, put them in a box and then sew them up into cloth and address them. I guess this prevents theft.
My last day tomorrow will be spent at the post office, scouting out the bus stop, stopping by the yoga center, packing and hanging with the crew. I leave for Kanyakumari Tuesday morning, about 2 hours South and it is the very tip of India. Then I'll start the very long climb North...lots of adventure awaits me. I feel so lucky to be here with these truly beautiful people.
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